In the night, the train whined and smoked as it drove quickly to Goodwood Station in Cape Town.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the 1st Wing of the Marine Corps arrived at Goodwood Railway Station by train.

At this time, the railway station had long been closed, and only a few watchmen from the station inspected the railway, and the stationmaster on duty and a few railway employees stayed in the platform duty room.

The train stopped, the carriage opened, and the officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Marines rushed out in full armor.

"Who are you?"

When a man saw a group of soldiers in military uniforms coming out, he thought it was the British, but when he got closer, he realized that the faces of the other were not white.

The light of the knife flashed, and a Marine officer slashed the neck of the gentry with his command knife, and the blood from the major arteries suddenly splashed seven or eight meters away.

As the body of the ganger fell to the ground, the commander waved his hand, and a squad of soldiers quickly dispersed, searching for the nearby gambit, and two other squads quickly occupied the duty room.

Due to the power outage, several attendants in the duty room had nothing to do, lighting candles and playing cards. There was no light outside, and they failed to spot anything unusual outside.

A squad of Chinese Emperor [***] soldiers slammed open the door and quickly rushed in to control them.

An English-speaking officer, Second Lieutenant Chen Li, asked, "How many of you are on duty tonight, including all the handymen?" If the answer is not true, shoot immediately! ”

"Fifteen people in total!" A timid Englishman immediately told him the answer.

"Count the number of people now!" Chen Li immediately instructed his soldiers to count the people at the railway station who had been captured and killed.

Soon, the number of people was reported, and fifteen people were no more than one and no less.

"Dispose of them and assemble at the station square in five minutes." After Chen Li threw down his words, he turned to leave. The soldiers immediately tied up the remaining seven watchmen, gagged them, and killed them silently.

In the railway station square, more than 5,000 people of the first wing were assembled here.

"Report to the Wing Commander, the train station has been cleared and no news has been leaked." Chen Li reported to Lieutenant Colonel Wen Bin, the commander of the wing.

"Good!" Wen Bin nodded, and then called the main officers of each brigade and squadron to arrange combat missions.

At about 10:40 p.m., the 1st Marine Regiment moved out of Goodwood Station and along Belleville Avenue toward Bank Street, 500 metres away.

Due to the destruction of the city of Cape Town by the special operations team last night and early this morning, the street lights have not been restored, and it is pitch black to cover the operation of the 1st Wing. However, the Cape Town Police Department was so busy that Cape Town Commissioner Winston Churchill ordered a thorough investigation, so the police were still patrolling the streets up to this point.

Although the 1st Wing sent a reconnaissance team to clear the streets of the British police along the way, there were a few more capable policemen who immediately opened fire to warn the Chinese Emperor [***]. Despite the loud gunfire fired during the night, Cape Town was under heavy naval fire from the Atlantic Fleet, which was quickly silenced by the thunderous sound of gunfire, which quickly died down and several policemen who resisted were killed. However, a wounded patrolman fled on horseback and went to the governor's palace to report the news.

When the British officials in the governor's palace learned that the Chinese Emperor [***] had entered the city, they immediately panicked, and hurriedly packed up their soft and fled to the fortress.

Churchill, who was inspecting the defense of the fortress, was shocked when he learned of the situation, and was worried about the gold in the underground vault of the Bank of England, so he immediately ordered 3,000 British troops to quickly reinforce the bank street and prepare to transfer the gold to the fortress.

Just after 11 p.m., the 1st Brigade of the 1st Wing had arrived at Bank Street and quickly took control of the east-west junction, as well as the adjacent streets.

Chen Li led the second brigade to forcibly break into the Cape Town branch of the Bank of England and force the governor to open the vault.

The adjutant trotted over and said, "Report to the Wing Commander, the target gold has been found!" ”

Chen Li was immediately overjoyed, and followed him to the underground vault, looking at the huge vault on the shelves stacked with golden glittering gold bars arranged in a trapezoidal shape, Chen Li and his subordinates all showed unconcealable joy.

"Is the count out?"

"Report to the Captain, there is too much gold, more than a million roots, let's count it while we move it, right?"

Chen Li nodded, it was important to hurry up, so he said, "Okay!" Carry it now! ”

More than 1,000 men from the 2nd Brigade immediately carried boxes of gold bars out of the vault and loaded them onto vehicles to be transported to Goodwood Railway Station.

At this moment, a dense burst of gunfire rang out at the westernmost end of Bank Street.

"What's the situation?"

"Report to the Wing Commander, the 1st Brigade has exchanged fire with the British."

"How many are there?"

"It's too dark to judge, but the first brigade is estimated to be two or three thousand people."

Chen Li nodded and said, "It seems that the British already know our intentions, and order the first brigade to resist me." Immediately ask where the 2nd Wing is, and immediately reinforce us! ”

"Yes!"

At the west entrance of the street, more than 1,000 officers and soldiers of the First Brigade built improvised sandbag fortifications to block the attack of the British [***] team. At the same time, it occupied the commanding heights of the buildings on both sides, and set up heavy machine guns to form a cross-cutting and three-dimensional defensive fire network on the streets, so that the British [***] team could not move forward.

"Da Da Da!"

In the darkness of the night, heavy machine guns spewed tongues of fire, and countless bullets rained down on the British troops, causing the charging British troops to fall one by one, suffering heavy casualties.

After the Boer War, the British army in Cape Town was considered elite in combat effectiveness among other similar British armies. However, because Churchill urged the Bank of England to quickly reinforce and keep the gold, the first batch of more than 3,000 British troops were all lightly armed and did not carry heavy weapons.

In this way, in the face of the heavy machine-gun fire of the Imperial Chinese Marines, the British in the charge suffered heavy casualties.

The 1st Wing did not carry infantry guns and heavy weapons, but the lightning guns in their hands were more suitable for exerting their might in urban street fighting.

"Knock knock!"

A thunderbolt roared and fell into the British army, exploding violently, and in an instant a dazzling ball of fire rose, and the blasted debris shot out at high speed, causing huge casualties to the British army.

"At all costs, drive the enemy out of the financial street!" Churchill, who then came to watch the battle, urged the commander, Colonel Kane, and ordered him to attack at any cost.

However, the firepower of the Chinese Emperor [***] was too fierce, and the British army launched many charges, but they were all beaten back, and in less than half an hour of fierce fighting, the British army suffered more than 1,000 casualties.

Kane then tried to weave his way through the Nijan House and the Milner shield on either flank of Financial Street, but was also stubbornly resisted, and the British army launched several charges, but all failed.

Churchill was so anxious that he immediately brought in 3,000 British troops from the Cape Fortress Barracks into battle, as well as heavy weapons such as infantry guns and heavy machine guns.

In order to keep the Bank of England vaults, Churchill gave Kane a death order, so the British army charged almost at any cost, and the battle between the two sides suddenly became white-hot.

In the dark night, the gunners on both sides relied on the muzzle flame of the other side to judge the direction and position, the British infantry artillery fire was very fierce, and the lightning guns of the Chinese Emperor [***] had the advantage of excellent mobile combat in close combat, and the artillery battle on both sides was very fierce.

At half past one o'clock in the morning, the British army still failed to move forward, and the Chinese Emperor [***] relied on the building as a natural fortification, giving full play to the firepower advantage of heavy machine guns and lightning guns, and repelled the British attack again and again. However, the cost of casualties is not small, and the 1,500-odd personnel of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Wing have already lost more than 300 people.

"Transfer the 3rd Squadron of the 3rd Brigade to reinforcements, and be sure to hold your position until dawn." For the sake of safety, Chen Li had to transfer personnel from the third brigade, and then asked, "When will the second brigade arrive?" ”

"Report to the Wing Commander, the second Wing has been stationed at the railway station and is fortifying."

"Why is he staying at the train station if he doesn't come to reinforce me?"

"The commander of the second wing said that the enemy will definitely try his best to cut off our retreat, and the railway station is the only retreat route for our army, and there is no room for error."

"It's unfounded!" Chen Li snorted, and was about to open his mouth to scold the captain of the second wing for not saving him when he saw death, when he heard the latest information from the signal corps.

"Report that the first British army is attacking the railway station and has exchanged fire with the second wing."

Chen Li was stunned for a moment, and then smiled bitterly: "He really guessed it, the British are very fast!" ”

The adjutant smiled: "Captain, we are robbing the lifeblood of the British." Nine hundred tons of gold, if these British troops are lost, what awaits them will be the darkest military court, don't you fight with us? ”

Chen Li nodded and asked, "How many have you moved?" ”

The adjutant replied, "When I asked just now, I only moved 500 boxes, less than a quarter. It would have been another three hours to move it. ”

"Nine hundred tons of gold, it's going to take a while." Chen Li said.

The adjutant said: "I think it's more than 900 tons, it's the wealth plundered by the British political axe, and there is a batch of gold and banknotes in the vault of the Bank of England itself. ”

Chen Li suddenly asked, "Have you seen the diamond?" I heard that it shouldn't be big, and one is worth a fortune. ”

The adjutant shook his head and said, "I haven't found it yet, the brothers are searching." ”

"That's right!" Chen Li suddenly asked, "I almost forgot!" Your Excellency, let's find a big diamond! ”

The adjutant smiled bitterly: "I haven't found any small diamonds, let alone big diamonds!" ”

Chen Li waved his hand and said: "You don't know, this big diamond is different, I heard that it weighs more than three thousand catties, and the commander is ready to dedicate it to His Majesty." ”

"More than 3,000 catties?" The adjutant's eyes widened, and he said in disbelief, "How big is that?" It's the size of a hill! ”

Chen Li smiled and said: "Anyway, it's more than three thousand, the weighing unit listens to the tongue-twister, I don't remember, in short, it is the largest diamond found from ancient times to the present, the intelligence bureau found out that this diamond was stored in the vault, and I heard that it was a gift from the governor of the Bank of England to King Edward VII." ”

The adjutant nodded and said, "Since it is a gift for His Majesty, you have to look for it, and I will send more people." ”

"Wait!" Chen Li said suddenly: "This diamond is a priceless treasure, it should have been hidden by the British alone, you go and talk to the British governor here and pry his mouth open." ”

"Understood!" The adjutant turned to leave.

At three o'clock in the morning, the British army increased to 20,000 troops, 70 artillery pieces, and 55 heavy machine guns.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

After several hours of fierce fighting, the British artillery fire had flattened the defensive positions that the 1st Brigade had initially constructed, all the houses in the combat area were destroyed, and the 1st Brigade suffered heavy casualties, and was forced to retreat to the second line of defense 50 meters away, and continued to rely on buildings to block the British attack.

Similarly, outside the Goodwood railway station, the British army also gathered more than 7,000 men to carry out a fierce assault on the second wing of the Chinese Emperor [***] Marine Corps at the railway station. Churchill's tactic was that even if the Bank of England could not be recaptured in a short time, the railway station should at least be recaptured, so that the Chinese Emperor [***] could not retreat. In addition, Churchill had already sent communications cavalry to Paz to send reinforcements from a large British army.

The fighting continued, with heavy casualties on both sides. But as an attacker, the British suffered more losses. Fifty meters of advance was made, but it cost a huge number of 3,000 casualties, which was six times the number of casualties of the Chinese Emperor's [***] team.

Kane approached Churchill and said, "Mr. Commissioner, my troops have suffered too many casualties and need to rest. ”

"No way!" Churchill objected without thinking about it, and said, "You must lead your men and soldiers to retake the Bank of England as soon as possible, otherwise you and I will not be able to account for the Empire." ”

"But you can also see that the Emperor of China [***] occupies a favorable position, and with advanced firepower defense, he has caused huge casualties to our army. My cannon had already turned the barrels red, but it only advanced fifty meters and blew up two buildings. ”

Churchill could not understand Kane's situation, but he could not help it.

"These cunning Chinese! Damn the builders, why did they build the buildings as strong as the walls of the fortresses! ”

After Churchill complained, he continued: "Colonel Kane, do you know? The 900 tons of gold property of the British Empire's political axe were stored there, and there were more than four million pounds of money from the Bank of England, which were all South Africa's fiscal revenues last year! They must not fall into the hands of the Chinese Emperor [***], that would be very terrible. In addition, the world's largest diamond that we just got half a month ago is also there, and that diamond is a gift we want to give to His Majesty Edward VII. ”

Kane was taken aback, he never expected that the Bank of England would have so many "musts".

Churchill said, "In this case, I will mobilize another 2,000 soldiers from the fortress for you, and please be sure to prevent the Chinese Emperor [***] from seizing our wealth!" ”

Kane nodded and said, "In that case, then I have nothing to say, I will do my best." ”

Kane had no choice but to call a few of his henchmen and tell them the truth, so his subordinates led his troops to attack again.

The Emperor of China [***] was also caught in a bitter battle at this time, and Chen Li successively transferred the remaining two squadrons of the Third Brigade to the forward position to assist the First Brigade in holding its position.

At five o'clock in the morning, the 340th Regiment of the 97th Division of the Dispatch Army arrived for reinforcements, and the 1st Brigade was able to withdraw and recuperate. However, the battle situation was urgent, and Chen Li did not give the first brigade much time to rest, and after only resting for half an hour, he immediately ordered them to assist the second brigade to hurry up and transport the gold.

By dawn, the 1st Marine Corps had emptied the entire Bank of England vault, with a total of 1.88 million gold bars, or about 912 tons of gold. There were also 2.03 million pound sterling banknotes and 1.52 million Eliza silver coins. There were also other mortgage items such as house deeds, title deeds, gold and silver jewelry, packed in more than a dozen large boxes and taken away.

"My lord, I've found that big diamond, look."

The adjutant ran to Chen Li excitedly and opened a brocade box, which contained the world's largest diamond weighing more than 3,000 carats.

Chen Li picked it up and tried the weight, and after playing with it, he couldn't help but exclaim: "I heard that this diamond was obtained by the Governor of England for 760,000 pounds." ”

"This gem is too expensive, isn't it?" The adjutant couldn't help but be speechless.

"Haven't you cut yet?" Chen Li said: "I heard that the value of this thing has increased dozens of times after cutting!" ”

The adjutant exclaimed, "Isn't that more than 10 million pounds?" There are more than 50 million coins, no wonder the commander wants to dedicate it to His Majesty! ”

Chen Li nodded, put away the brocade box and said to the adjutant: "You personally bring a team of brothers to escort this diamond, and you must hand it over to the commander safely, this is a great achievement." ”

"Understood! I'll go! The adjutant excitedly took the order to leave.

After daybreak, the warring sides gradually became able to see each other clearly, and the fighting became more intense. The British offensive became more and more fierce and crazy, although the 340th Regiment was a winning regiment with rich combat experience, but the first time such a passive street battle was also a little unbearable.

The British army charged desperately, attacked the forward position of the 340th Regiment several times, and broke out white-knuckle battles with the 3rd Battalion, and the position changed hands several times.

At 7:17 a.m., there was a sudden explosion on the artillery positions of the rear phalanx of the British troops. There was a violent explosion, the earth trembled, and several buildings that had been emptied by the shells were shaken and collapsed.

"What happened?"

"Report to the wing commander, the artillery positions in the rear of the British troops suddenly exploded, as if they were ammunition depots."

Chen Li frowned and said: "The 340th Regiment didn't come with infantry artillery, it used mortars like us, and it couldn't hit that far!" ”

Soon the British stopped the offensive and retreated like a tide.

"Why didn't the British fight?"

Chen Li was confused, just like him, all the officers and soldiers of the Chinese Emperor [***] in the battle were very strange.

About half an hour later, Chen Li got a report, it turned out that the Desert Fox Special Operations Group attacked the British command and artillery positions, several snipers of the sixth squadron shot and killed the British commander Kane and several of his commanders, and even the British Cape Town Commissioner Churchill who was standing next to them was also shot, the British army immediately lost command, and the artillery positions were terminated, and the British army immediately gave up the attack.

"I'm thinking about why the special operations team has disappeared, it turns out that it has infiltrated behind enemy lines."

Chen De, the commander of the 334th Regiment, withdrew from the front line at this time, and after hearing Chen Li's words, he said: "I really underestimated them before, but I only saw their value at the critical moment." If it weren't for them, it is estimated that we would have to fight a stalemate with the British army, and it would be difficult for us to get out. ”

Chen Li nodded and said, "We have completed the task, the gold has almost been transported to Gordon Bay now, it is estimated that it will be time to load the ship, let's also withdraw and join the main force of your division." ”

Chen De said with a smile: "We must return, but we have another task, there are more than 40 banks from various countries on this bank street, as well as a large jewelry store, we can't come in vain, the commander has explained, and we will do him if we have the opportunity." ”

Chen Li looked at the rows of buildings around him, and sure enough, they were all banking and financial companies, so he said, "But our robbery of foreign banks will cause international diplomatic disputes?" ”

Chen De smiled: "Do you think that the commander has not thought about this? We've got a way! After robbing the gold, silver, jewelry, and money, they destroyed the corpses and destroyed all the buildings on this bank street, saying that the British artillery blew it up, and put all the pots on the heads of the British. ”

Chen Li couldn't help but praise: "The chiefs are really thoughtful! Why can't we think of it? ”

Chen De nodded and said, "So people are chiefs, and we can only be subordinates." ”

Chen Lileng paused for a moment, and then laughed and said, "You're right!" So what are we waiting for, hurry up? ”

Chen Tak nodded, so the army and navy each took out their men and were responsible for robbing the banks on the side of the street. First of all, on the pretext of war and on the pretext of protecting civilians from harming civilians, they drove out all the personnel of banks, jewelry houses, and financial institutions, and when they were sure that no one was there, they immediately blew up their underground vaults and packed them with banknotes, gold, silver, and all kinds of jewelry.

More than 40 banks, financial institutions and jewelry houses in Europe and the United States were looted, with a total value of more than 200 million pounds (1 billion dragon coins), among which the British Xinzheng jewelry store was looted on the largest scale, about 10,000 carats of diamonds, more than 400 kilograms of gold, more than 2,000 kilograms of silver, and a large number of gold and silver jewelry were taken away.

The robbery lasted immediately for two hours, and then the Chinese Emperor [***] placed a large number of high-explosive explosives and shells, gasoline and other flammable and explosive materials in various buildings, and prepared to evacuate.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the British army made a comeback and concentrated more than 40 artillery pieces to storm the defensive positions of the Chinese Emperor [***]. Chen Li and Chen De immediately ordered the troops to retreat to the railway station, and when the British charged, the demolition soldiers detonated the planted explosives and bombs from a distance.

"Boom!"

With a series of violent explosions, one building after another collapsed in the explosion, the fire was blazing, and the smoke covered the sky in an instant.

The British soldiers who had just rushed up were immediately engulfed in rubble, dust, fire and smoke, and the Emperor of China [***] took the opportunity to get rid of contact with the British army and retreated to the railway station at full speed.

At this time, the battle was still going on outside the railway station, and the 2nd Marine Wing of the Atlantic Fleet was holding back the British attack. The 1st Wing and all the officers and men of the 334th Regiment escorted the looted belongings to the Gordons Cup by train, and then the 2nd Wing suddenly launched a counter-charge against the British troops on the opposite side, and the British troops were caught off guard and forced to retreat, while the 2nd Wing took the opportunity to blow up the railway station and evacuate Cape Town by the last train.

At the Sten-Brasa railway station, the other three regiments of the 97th Division were blocking the British reinforcements from Paz, and the two sides fought fiercely for a day and a night.

On 5 March, the Marines withdrew to the sea, and the 97th Division abandoned the Sten-Braça railway station and retreated to the Gordons Cup. The British army held on to it, intending to destroy the 97th Division.

On March 8, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle at the Gordons Cup, and the main force of the Atlantic Fleet immediately launched a fierce artillery bombardment of the British army. The Navy's 305-mm shells were extremely lethal to the British, inflicting heavy damage on the British attacking forces and forcing the British to retreat five miles to avoid the naval gun's strike zone.

In this way, the remaining three figures of the 97th Division, under the cover of artillery fire from the Atlantic Fleet, quickly withdrew to the sea.

On March 10, the 7th Company of the 339th Regiment of the 97th Division, which was responsible for the rear of the palace, withdrew to the sea after completing its mission.

That night, the Atlantic Fleet escorted the South African dispatch out of Fars Bay. Ten days later, the Dispatch arrived at the San Juan Naval Base in Puerto Rico, and the Battle of Cape Town was won by the Chinese Emperor [***].

(To be continued)